Woman hired by ice
Executive summary
Laura Jedeed, an investigative journalist and veteran, says she walked into an ICE career expo in August 2025 intending to report on hiring practices and, within weeks, found a tentative job offer and a start date on USAJobs despite having completed minimal screening at the event—claims she detailed in Slate [1] and reiterated in interviews with Oregon Live and PBS [2] [3]. The Department of Homeland Security and ICE dispute the characterization of a formal “job offer,” noting tentative selection letters are not final offers and that standard adjudication and background checks follow initial recruitment steps [4].
1. How the hiring story unfolded: a six-minute encounter that led to paperwork on USAJobs
Jedeed reports that at an Arlington, Texas ICE career expo she was asked a handful of basic questions in a conversation she timed at roughly six minutes, left a résumé, and months later discovered a tentative offer, start date and duty station listed on USAJobs despite not having completed required forms or a background check [1] [5]. Multiple outlets picked up her first-person Slate account, amplifying the central claim that ICE’s expo process could create what she calls a de facto hire with minimal vetting [1] [2].
2. ICE and DHS push back: tentative selection versus job offer
DHS publicly disputed Jedeed’s framing, stating that she “was NEVER offered a job at ICE” and emphasizing that candidates may receive a Tentative Selection Letter after initial application steps but before formal hiring steps like adjudication and background checks [4]. That distinction — between a preliminary administrative flagging and a legally binding employment contract — is central to the agency’s rebuttal and to understanding the recruitment pipeline [4].
3. Broader reporting and corroboration: how other media treated the claim
Regional and national outlets including OregonLive, Willamette Week, PBS and Newsweek reported on Jedeed’s account and contextualized it within a larger ICE recruitment push that has reportedly added thousands of personnel and prioritized fast hiring [2] [5] [3] [6]. DHS and ICE have said they expanded recruiting dramatically, and a DHS press release touts a surge in hires from a recent campaign, a claim that helps explain why expedited processes might appear at public expos [7].
4. Critics, supporters and the politics of perception
Supporters of Jedeed’s exposé argue it shows dangerously lax vetting for officers empowered to detain and remove people, a concern amplified by recent controversial operations and uses of force that have spotlighted ICE practices nationally [1] [8]. Agency defenders stress procedural safeguards remain in place beyond initial contact, and they point to formal adjudication and background checks that, in their view, prevent accidental or unvetted hirings [4]. Both perspectives carry political stakes: critics aim to depict systemic dysfunction in enforcement; the administration and DHS emphasize manpower needs and formal hiring stages [1] [7].
5. What reporting confirms and what remains uncertain
Available reporting documents Jedeed’s firsthand account and shows she found a tentative selection and start date on USAJobs after engaging at the expo [1] [5]. Reporting also verifies DHS’s public rebuttal that a Tentative Selection Letter is not a final job offer and that subsequent adjudication is required [4]. What reporting does not clearly establish is whether any candidate has been placed into active duty without completion of background checks and drug testing at scale; the public record summarized here neither proves nor disproves systemic bypassing of later adjudicative steps [4] [1].
6. Implications and next steps for scrutiny
If Jedeed’s account reflects broader operational shortcuts at recruitment events, the implications for oversight, training and public safety are material, especially amid a rapid hiring surge ICE says it has orchestrated [7]. Independent verification — such as internal hiring records, timelines showing completion of adjudication steps for hires recruited at expos, or oversight inquiries — would be required to determine whether the tentatively selected applicants routinely become active officers before full vetting is finished; current public reporting highlights the concern but stops short of that documentary proof [1] [4].